Tattoo
by J Plash
Summary: The first ten times Kio asked Soubi about the bandages on his neck, Soubi said nothing, or evaded the question, or walked away. The eleventh time didn't make much more sense, but he did see Soubi smile. One-shot, gen, pre-Ritsuka, Kio crushing on Soubi.


A/N: A one-shot I sketched back in January. Hope you enjoy! Those who are waiting for updates on my chaptered fics; I'm working on them, promise :) See my profile or my LJ for more details :)

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Tattoo

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The first ten times Kio asked Soubi about the bandages on his neck, Soubi said nothing, or evaded the question, or walked away.

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The eleventh time, Kio asked "Have you got any?", his back bare, skin still tingling from Soubi's shameless fingertips on his tattoo.

Soubi paused for a moment. Then—"I have this." And the bandages came off in one motion, quick as ever, because he'd done it a hundred times in battle and forgot nothing he had learned by Seimei's side. He almost let Kio touch it, too, when the boy's hand reached out, because Soubi had touched his. He stepped away at the last moment.

Only Seimei was allowed to touch there. That Seimei was dead made no difference.

Kio frowned. A normal person would have left it at that, but a normal person wouldn't have bothered with Soubi's blatant hostility in the first place. "Soubi-san...are those cuts?"

He didn't sound very convinced. Soubi wrapped the bandages back around, right to left, then the other end in reverse. "Scars. Not cuts."

Kio's eyes widened further, a reaction that Soubi silently observed made him look faintly fish-like. "You cut that in your neck? With what? A razor? That's dangerous!"

"Not me."

Kio stared.

"And not a razor. A sharp knife. It wasn't dangerous."

Kio blinked. "It wasn't dangerous to—no, wait, for _someone else_ to—cut stuff in your neck with a knife?" Soubi finished winding the bandages and ran his palm over them quickly—to check the binding—to feel the scars. His would-be companion was still ranting. "What if they pressed too hard? Was it a professional or something? I've never seen--"

"No."

Kio groaned. "No what?"

Soubi turned back to his painting. Kio's tattoo was fascinating—enthralling even—but possibly not worth putting up with his company. "I have work to do."

Kio huffed softly, and stared right at Soubi as he stepped between him and the canvas. Directly in the way. Soubi's eyes narrowed, and there was no one who didn't run from that glare.

Except for Kio. "You can work in a minute. No what?"

Soubi considered a moment, then dipped the paintbrush red. "No, not a professional."

Kio didn't move. Soubi considered another moment, face unreadable, then painted a long stripe down Kio's bare chest, collarbone to navel. Kio's eyes widened again, but he didn't budge. "Soubi..."

"We are not on first name terms, Kaidou-kun."

Kio suppressed a shiver at the lingering feel of the paintbrush on his skin, glistening red down his middle, and reminded himself that he was determined to get to the bottom of this. He ignored Soubi's reprimand—he'd been trying to get closer to the mysterious Agatsuma-san for weeks, and he was more than used to Soubi's coldness. If Soubi wanted him to move, he'd have to answer properly, and Kio could be very patient. Next question. "Not a professional...who then?"

Soubi wasn't looking at him, but at the line down his chest, and Kio found it hard to take his eyes off the bandages now that he knew what was underneath. The scars were so deep, in such a sensitive place...it was hard to believe Soubi had survived them. Soubi didn't seem to agree. Kio pushed on anyway. "Who on earth thought that was a good idea?"

Soubi ignored him, re-dipped the brush and painted a long diagonal across the skin top right to bottom left then, when Kio only stared and shivered and said nothing, top left to bottom right. Pecs and ribs and stomach and heartbeat. Kio glanced in something between bewilderment and arousal down at the large red cross—definitely a cross, not a star, despite the three lines—staining his skin. He took two slow breaths for calm, and told himself that if Soubi-the-enigma noticed his hard-on, it was the guy's own fault for suddenly deciding to take to Kio's chest with a paintbrush. That didn't quite stop his voice sounding just a little nervous. "Uh, thanks." He was_ going_ to get this conversation back on track.

He looked down once more at the red slashing his skin, then dragged his eyes back up to Soubi's face (and not that neck, the bandages and the underneath, and not the paintbrush still hovering between his fingers)."But you're not distracting me, Agatsuma-san." Yeah, like using his last name was going to make him any less hot. Focus. "Who cut up your neck? An attacker? Your boyfriend?" Shudder.

Soubi didn't blink, just stared, and put the brush back in the pot. "My Sacrifice."

Kio did blink, several times. "Your...what?"

And for the first time, Kio saw Soubi smile, just faintly, eyes on the ground.

"Beloved."

ooo

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A/N: One of the most interesting things about Loveless, for me, is Soubi's ambiguity. You can read this fic a bunch of different ways. Soubi's like that. Hope you enjoyed it, regardless ;D Reviews always appreciated and replied to :)


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